7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3)
Thoughts: The lesson of Jesus to the Pharisees is that just being religious is not enough. Having an intellectual belief in one God is not enough. Just being sincere in your belief is not enough either. Instead, it is a matter of having a love for God that produces fruit. Without fruit, we are like discarded branches. The fruit- is the fruit of reproduction- reproducing faith and the fruit of the Spirit. There are physical-visible children of Abrham, and real spiritual descendants of him.
In our day, many people think that because they are religious and go to church, they are a part of the family. But the heart has to be right and if the heart is right, the right kind of life and fruit are produced. A sign of religious ferment is trusting in habit instead of trusting in the heart. The corollary is also true- to trust the heart without habit destroys the depth of our belief. Hopefully we have our hearts right with God and are consistent in serving Him in worship and helping others. The invisible church of the heart shows itself in bearing fruit.
Prayer: May my heart show in my life. May my devotion show itself in my going to worship you.
No comments:
Post a Comment